Traditional Medicine in Asia

on. Thus, mind and body, emotions and
viscera, are parts of an integral whole.
No matter how diversified the various
systems of traditional medicine in the
spheres of diagnosis, treatment and
management of diseases and patients, they
have a common viewpoint which may be
summed up by the term holistic medical
model or holism.
Basic concepts of modern
biomedicine
In the Middle Ages in the West, the
domination of religion and feudalistic
monarchy greatly hampered the development
of the natural sciences, and
obstructed the progress of medicine. Thus,
medieval medicine was shrouded in the
mists of theology.
Modern western medicine was first
established in the 18th century, during the
“enlightenment” in Europe. The new natural
sciences created by Galileo, Descartes,
Newton, Boyle and others no longer
conceived of the world in terms of qualities
and elements, but as consisting of particles
of measurable sizes, shapes and motion.
Descartes saw the body as he saw the world,
in mechanical terms. This new and influential
philosophy was one that reduced biological
processes to mechanical events. 5
Closely related to mechanism is
reductionism, which explains the properties
of the whole entirely by the properties of
the parts that compose it. In medicine,
reductionism offers explanations in terms
of physical, chemical and mechanical
principles. The biomedicine which thus
evolved “considers biological entities more
or less as equal to the sum of their
anatomical parts and endeavours to
elucidate molecular, physiological and
pathological mechanisms believed to form
the basis of biological processes”. 6
Harmonization of traditional and modern medicine
The achievements of the natural
sciences and the reductionistic
approaches, and the use of analytical
methodologies, brought about a medical
revolution in the West – medieval medicine
was transformed into scientific biomedicine.
The revolution started with anatomy, which
explored the precise structure of the human
body. The microscope not only became an
essential aid for anatomists, but also
furthered pathological study from the
organic and histological levels to the
cellular level. Progress in the physical
sciences inspired experimental investigations
in physiology. Breakthroughs in
chemistry, such as the study of energy
conversion in the human body, also held
great promise for medicine. In the latter
half of the 19th century, the “bacteriological
revolution” clarified the true
pathogens of many communicable
diseases. Along with the advance of
anatomy, physiology, pathology and
bacteriology, clinical medicine also
progressed, particularly in respect of
diagnostics and surgical operations. A new
system of medicine – modern biomedicine
– was thus formed and developed in the
West. This system is different from the
traditional systems, not only in terms of
concrete knowledge and practice, but also
with respect to the underlying philosophical
views.
Conflicts between traditional
medicine and modern
biomedicine
Owing to the fact that traditional medicine
and modern medicine evolved on the basis
of different philosophical assumptions and
with different methodological approaches,
conflicts are bound to arise when the two
systems are used simultaneously in the
same country or area. Different countries
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